Welcome to 2025!

Welcome to my first edition of Finding your Spark in 2025, I hope you've all had a great Christmas and New Year break? I know for many of my contacts who work in care and retail, the months leading up to (and including) Christmas is one of the busiest times of the year, so I do hope you all had some time out to pause, reflect and rest (or have sometime planed in the coming days!)

Something new!

In 2025, I've decided to create a weekly update that will really help organisations with their internal communications, and in the first few months of the year, I'll be going right back to basics, and shining a light on some key thinking around Internal communication. As always, please do get in touch, like, subscribe, comment, ask questions and let me know what you think...

So, let's get to it!

Put bluntly, internal communications is a critical function that helps to shape the way organisations operate, engage their employees, and achieve success. Whether you’re new to the concept or looking to sharpen your IC skills, this edition will break it all down, highlight real-world successes, and leave you with actionable tips to get started.

📣 What Is Internal Communications?

At its core, Internal Communications is all about how an organisation shares information, builds engagement, and helps to create a sense of purpose among employees.

For many people, they think it's just about emails and newsletters... while that is involved, it’s far more than that. It's about building trust, making sure that everyone in the organisation is aligned with the overall vision and goals that have been set, and making sure that everyone feels heard and connected to the organisation’s mission.

Done right, internal communication can help employees understand their role in the bigger picture, boosts morale, and aligns teams across departments. It’s the glue that holds company culture together and turns vision into action.

"It's about making sure that everyone feels heard and connected... and is the glue that holds company culture together"

Why does Internal Communications matter?

I've picked out three examples here, of course there are more, it'd be great to hear what you think...

Boosts Employee Engagement

• Engaged employees are more productive and motivated and communication has a massive part to play in this. Gallup reports that businesses with highly engaged employees are 21% more profitable than their peers - so you'd be silly not to be engaging internal communications in your plans.

Improves Change Management

• Who isn't going through some change at the moment in their organisation? It's the new constant, it may be a move of office, a merger, restructure, or a new tech rollout. Strong Internal communication helps guide employees through these transitions, reducing resistance and uncertainty.

Drives Success

• When employees understand the company’s goals and their role in achieving them, it creates a more focused and efficient workforce. Internal communication can help people feel part of the change and the plans, so things get delivered.

As I say, there are loads more things I could say here, but I hope this gives you a flavour of how it can help.

Don't just take my word for it...

Over my years in internal communication (and there have now been a few!) I've been lucky enough to help organisations communication some big changes, I've picked out three below, but get in touch if you'd like to find out more...

1. Navigating a Merger

When a healthcare provider merged with another provider, employees feared job losses and cultural clashes. Through a well thought out internal communication strategy (that included regular updates, leadership Q&A sessions, and anonymous feedback channels) we were able to reduce uncertainty and help built trust.

The result? Better and faster integration and reduced turnover during what could have been a very turbulent time for all colleagues.

2. Launching New Values

An organisation had worked really hard to redefine its values and what it stood for, while this was great - they didn't know how to share this and embed them with all colleagues. Working hard with all the key stakeholders in the organisation, we were able to embed them and bring they these values to life for everyone, and through every communication.

The result? The company saw a significant boost in employee buy-in and saw significant growth and productivity.

3. Enhancing and building wellbeing

A company was struggling with high turnover and sickness in the workforce. Communication helps promote the wider campaign promoting mental health resources, wellness programs, and open conversations and listening.

The result? There was reduced stigma and stronger morale in the team, with absenteeism dropping and employees feeling more valued.

Three ideas to start your Internal Communication journey

Over the coming months ahead, I hope to share lots of ideas around how you can build your internal communications, but here are three key actions that you can start to think about now.

Understand your audience

• Every organisation is different, and as a result has different groups of employees with different needs and preferences. Listening is important so you can make sure that people are getting what they need. Conduct surveys or hold focus groups to identify what works for them. Tailoring your messages ensures they’re heard and understood.

Leverage Multiple Channels

• One way of communicating isn't going to cut it, so don’t rely on it! Use a mix of different ways to get your point across, that could be email, intranet updates, team meetings, videos, or even social media-style platforms to engage employees where they are. As long as the message is consistent that will help get the message across.

Measure and Adapt

• Set clear goals for how you communicate, it may be improving engagement scores or landing a new system. Metrics are important and using data on employee feedback, participation rates, or communication reach will help you to gauge how well the communication is working. Measurement works, so don't be afraid to use it where you need it.

In Summary

If you're still reading this, I hope you now realise that Internal Communications is far more than just a department or team that helps to distribute information. It's much more than that... it’s about creating connections, aligning teams, and driving success.

Whether you’re managing organisational change or simply trying to boost engagement, IC is vital to help you land what you need to do, and bring people along with you.

Starting your journey in IC doesn’t have to be daunting either, by focus on understanding your audience, using different channels, and learning from the results you can make sure that your communication sings!

The impact of great communication is huge, for both for your organisation and the people who work in it, so what are you waiting for... get communicating!

Thanks

Dave

💬 What’s your biggest challenge with Internal Communications? Let’s start a conversation in the comments!